498 



CORSSEN 



CORTES 



This custom has given a name to many streets in 

 almost all the larger towns of Italy. The best 

 known of these is the Corso in Rome, which is the 

 scene of the celebrated diversions of the Carnival. 



Corssen, WJLHELM PAUL, a great German 

 philologist, was born at Bremen, January 20, 

 1820. After studies in philology at Berlin, especi- 

 ally under Boeckh and Lachmann, and two years 

 spent in teaching in a gymnasium at Stettin, he 

 was called in 1846 to lecture at Schulpforta, and 

 there he remained till 1866, when ill-health com- 

 pelled him to retire to Berlin. There, however, 

 he continued his arduous studies until he died, a 

 martyr to learning, June 18, 1875. His earliest 

 great work is his treatise, Ueber Aussprache, 

 vokalismus, und Betonung der Lateinischen 

 Sprache (2 vols. 1858-59; 2d eel. 1868-70). It 

 was followed by Kritische Beitrage zur Latein- 

 ischen Formenlehre (1863) and Kritische Nach- 

 trdge zur Lateinischen Formenlehre (1866). His 

 second masterpiece is Ueber die Sprache der 

 Etrusker (2 vols. 1874-75), in which he labours 

 with great ingenuity and vast learning to prove 

 against the world that the Etruscan language 

 was cognate with that of the Romans. H. Weber 

 edited from his papers Beitrage zur italischen 

 Sprachkunde ( Leip. 1876). 



Cort, CORNELIS, known in Italy as Cornelio 

 Fiammingo, a famous Dutch engraver, was born 

 at Hoorn in 1533 or 1536. He studied under 

 Hieronymus Cock, and his early plates bear 

 that master's name. In 1572 he went to Venice, 

 and was hospitably received there by Titian, some 

 of whose finest works he engraved, as well as those 

 of other Italian masters. Cort next settled at 

 Rome, where he founded an engraving school ; and 

 from this school sprang the most excellent Italian 

 and Venetian engravers. He died at Rome in 

 1578. 



Cortes, the name given in Spain and Portugal 

 to the assembly of representatives of the nation, 

 the origin and history of which varied greatly in 

 the different kingdoms out. of which modern Spain 

 is formed. See ARAGON, CASTILE, &c. ; also 

 SPAIN and PORTUGAL. 



Cortes, HERNANDO, the conqueror of Mexico, 

 was born at Medellin, in Estremadura, in 1485, of 

 a noble but decayed family. The longing for ad- 

 venture which early filled his heart was not cured 

 by two years' study at Salamanca. He sailed for 

 San Domingo in 1504, and ere long accompanied 

 Velazquez in his expedition to Cuba. After the 

 island had been subdued he came into serious 

 disfavour with the governor, but was reconciled, 

 and became alcalde in the capital, Santiago. The 

 discovery by De Cordova of Yucatan, and of New 

 Spain (Mexico) by Grijalva, had already fired the 

 ambitious mind of Velazquez, when * Pedro de 

 Alvarado, who had been despatched by Grijalva, 

 arrived at Cuba ; and his glowing accounts filled 

 the governor with a fresh thirst for gain and glory. 

 He hastened to fit out a new expedition, the com- 

 mand of which he gave to Cortes. Cortes sailed 

 18th November 1518, and one of the most romantic 

 chapters in the history of the world began. The 

 armament with which he entered on the conquest 

 of avast and civilised empire consisted, according 

 to Bernal Diaz, of five hundred and fifty Spaniards, 

 two or three hundred Indians, twelve or fifteen 

 horses, with ten brass guns and some falconets. 

 Scarcely had he touched at Trinidad when orders 

 from Velazquez to supersede him reached the 

 island. These Cortes refused to obey, and thus 

 cut himself off from all hope save in success. He 

 landed first in Yucatan, and entered New Spain at 

 the river of Grijalva. Proceeding inland he reached 

 Tabasco, and here he fought his first battle with the 



natives. His victory gave him his invaluable 

 interpreter, the beautiful and faithful Donna 

 Marina. At San Juan de Ulua messengers froii) 

 Montezuma, the king of Mexico, reached him, 

 bringing rich presents, but objecting to his ex. 

 pressed desire tor a visit to the king. Here when 

 the faction of Velazquez within his little force 

 began to express openly their hesitation about pro- 

 ceeding farther, Cortes adroitly got his men tc 

 entreat him to change the purpose of the expedi- 

 tion into colonisation and conquest instead of mem 

 trade, and was thereupon formally appointed cap- 

 tain-general and justicia-mayor. 



He now founded Vera Cruz, and sent messengers 

 to Charles V. He next united all opposing in- 

 terests in that of the common safety by uurning his 

 ships behind him, and marched to Tlascala, whose 

 warlike inhabitants, subdued after some hard 

 fighting, became henceforward his ever-faithful 

 allies. After some delay he started on his memor- 

 able march to Mexico, attended by some thousands 

 of his Tlascalan allies ; and at Cholula a treacher- 

 ous attempt, by orders of Montezuma, to entrap 

 the Spaniards, was frustrated by his sleepless vigil- 

 ance. On the 8th November 1519 he reached the 

 capital, which Bernal Diaz says appeared when 

 they first saw it like something in a dream, or like 

 one of the enchanted castles in the book of Amadis. 

 The city was situated in a great salt lake communi- 

 cating with a fresh-water lake, and was approached 

 by three causeways of solid masonry, one two 

 leagues long, with wooden drawbridges at the 

 ends. At the lowest estimate its inhabitants 

 exceeded 300,000. Cortes had not been a week in 

 the city before he had determined to seize the 

 august person of the king, and hold him as a host- 

 age ; his pretext being a treacherous attack upon 

 Vera Cruz. Montezuma was paralysed at the 

 heroic audacity of his proposal, and was carried to 

 the Spanish quarters, from which he was never to 

 return. Seventeen of the king's officers brought 

 from Vera Cruz were burned to death in nis 

 presence, and Montezuma himself put in irons- 

 the while. In general, however, but little apparent 

 restraint was put upon him, and he was allowed to 

 go to his temple accompanied by a guard of one 

 hundred and fifty Spaniards. At length he was con- 

 strained to submit to a public act of vassalage to 

 Spain, and to give gold to the value of 100,000 ducats. 



But Cortes was far more than an ordinary con- 

 quistador ; he inquired about the mines and the 

 methods of cultivation, and made wide explorations 

 into the country ; while with characteristic religious, 

 zeal he destroyed the more hideous Mexican idols, 

 and sternly forbade human sacrifices. Mean- 

 time, however, the Mexican hatred for the con- 

 quering invaders was beginning to surmount their 

 fear, as they began gradually to discover that they 

 were merely mortal men spite of the strange wonder 

 of their horses and cannon, and moreover were 

 miserably few in numbers. In the sixth month of 

 his imprisonment Montezuma asked Cortes to de- 

 part. The conqueror craved delay, and learned a 

 few days after tne request that eighteen ships had 

 arrived in the bay of San Juan. These ships had 

 been despatched by Velazquez under Pamphilo de 

 Narvaez, who sent a favourable message to Monte- 

 zuma. Cortes left Alvarado in command, and 

 hastened with but a handful of men to meet 

 Narvaez, whose force numbered 800 men ; and at 

 Cholula, amid a blinding storm, surprised him in an 

 unexpected night-attack in which out three of his 

 own handful of heroes fell. The defeated troops 

 gladly embraced the cause of the conqueror. 



Fourteen days after the defeat of Narvaez came 

 the news from Alvarado that the Spaniards were 

 besieged in their quarters in Mexico. Cortes at 

 once collected all his men, marched to his lieutenant's 



